


For Whom the Bell Tolls

by UisceOneLove



Series: Dark Stony Bingo 2021 [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Self-Sacrifice, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Unhappy Ending, Unspoken words, saying goodbye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29963655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UisceOneLove/pseuds/UisceOneLove
Summary: Tony and Steve go to retrieve the Soul Stone.It shouldn't have been them.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Dark Stony Bingo 2021 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2193099
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26
Collections: SteveTony Acheronian Bingo 2021





	For Whom the Bell Tolls

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are, back to the sadder/darker ideas. At least I didn't cry this time. 
> 
> Dark Stony Bingo Card 2, Square: "Watching the Other One Die"

It might've been a bad idea--

No. No, it was a bad idea.

Steve and Tony should have probably been the ones to go for the stones in New York. Natasha and Clint didn't exactly look like they did back then and would be hard for them to explain things should they be caught. 

But they were the former SHIELD spies so they'd been willing to let it go. 

Steve and Tony figured that maybe the Soul Stone would be harder to fetch anyway. Nebula's sister hadn't come back when Thanos took her so there had to be some kind of threat. 

Tony forgot how much he hated space. Too many bad experiences already. 

Steve didn't look comfortable either. He had stood at the foot of the planet looking very much like the old Captain America who'd boarded the helicarrier with a stick up his ass and too big of an albatross weighing him down. 

Then they were welcomed by an old enemy.

"Red Skull." Steve shook with fists clenched at his sides. "You're supposed to be dead."

"Perhaps I am, Captain Rogers," the emaciated red man replied, "but a guardian needs not to be alive to protect its boundaries."

Tony could see how much Steve wanted to reach for his shield. He put a hand on Steve's shoulder. "We need the stone, Steve."

The Captain looked haunted, and Tony could think of all the reasons that might be, before he shut it down and nodded stiffly, fists slowly uncurling. 

"The stone," Red skull said, a bony hand pointing up a steep set of steps, "begins up there." 

Okay, that didn't make any sense, but Tony got the message. 

"After you, Cap," Tony said, but Steve just looked at him and shook his head. 

"Together." 

That was...however long ago it was. 

Now, they both sat on a boulder with an impassive Red Skull watching as they felt the realization hit them of what it meant to need to retrieve the stone. 

"This was what Nebula meant when she said Thanos killed Gamora," Steve said, hand rubbing at his mouth as he stared off into the distance. 

Tony broke apart a thin piece of stone. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy." 

"No." He looked up to see that recognizable determination straighten Steve's shoulders into a line and lift his chin. Dread turned Tony's body cold as he came to a horrible conclusion. "It is easy, actually."

Tony dropped the rock and stood. "No, Steve." 

"You know I'm right, Tony," Steve replied calmly, unsheathing his shield and setting it down. "It has to be me."

"No, it doesn't." Tony refused. They could figure out another way.

Steve grabbed Tony's shoulders. "You have a family, Tony. You got that peace you were after."

"Not all of it." 

"That was my fault," he replied, "I should've called you. There are a lot of things that I should have done."

"We both screwed up, Steve."

"You still have Morgan to go back to," Steve went on. "I've been looking for my purpose. The Avengers, SHIELD, saving Bucky, stopping the Accords, Thanos, all of it was building up to this. This is what my purpose is." 

Tony shoved Steve in the chest. "That is bullshit. No one's purpose is to die."

"Who else is going to do it?" Stev countered, unfazed. "Are you going to leave Morgan? Do you see anyone here that can do this? Who would you pick to take our place in this decision?"

Selfishly, Tony thought again that it should've been Nat and Barton standing here. He banished it away as soon as it came; he could never choose between his friends or make them stand here over the same decision.

Tony knows what Steve's going to say next and it's nothing he wants to hear. He can't do that Last Time bullshit. This isn't Leia and Han saying "I know" and then reuniting in the next movie. Steve wasn't going to come back. 

"What do you think is on the other side this time, Steve? Tony decided to ask. So Steve doesn't say those three words and he doesn't grab at the blond for some final passionate kiss.

Steve grasped the belt of his suit, pensive. "I think it's Heaven, Tony," he answered. "It's my ma. It's my father. Howard, Erskine, Peggy. I know you don't believe in it but I believe you and Bucky and the Avengers will be there with me, too." 

Tony doesn't say again that it's bullshit. God doesn't exist in his vocabulary. Steve was giving himself some glorified happy death ending as if he's Hercules being allowed into Mount Olympus at the end of the Disney movie. 

"Any final words for the team, then?" Tony asked, his body and voice stiff. 

Steve had the audacity to look at him with an adoration that Tony had pushed away when their team was broken apart. "You'll think of something." 

Tony should've stopped him. 

He should've fucking stopped him. 

His feet wouldn't move until after Steve took his running start. Steve was always faster when Tony didn't have the suit, that serum running through his veins.

"Wait--" Tony changed his mind; he'll take the kiss or the vow or anything at all if it stopped Steve from doing this for a little longer--

Tony watched Steve swan dive over the cliff and he stumbled to his knees. He crawled to the edge of the cliff and watched as Captain America went down into the smoke, unable to look away as Steve turned over in the air, his face up towards the sky--

And then there was ground. 

Like a fallen angel. From this height, Steve looked like an angel who was cast out without his wings, blood slowly pooling around him. 

Sobs wracked through Tony. Not again. Not. Again. 

Tony left, stone in hand, and Steve forever to remain where he doesn't belong. 

It didn't matter if they wind up winning. Losing would have meant they still had Steve.

 _Tony_ would still have Steve. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos feed my dark soul, so please leave some!


End file.
